You are here

The Binding of Isaac Rebirth Is Reborn On PlayStation 4

Selling over 2 million copies on the PlayStation 3, Vita and PC, The Binding of Isaac was a success on the level many AAA games aspire to reach. Primarily created by Edward McMillen, one half of Team Meat of Super Meat Boy fame, McMillen is handing the reins of the game to Nicalis, of Cave Story fame, to create The Binding of Isaac Rebirth for the PlayStation 4.

What Is The Binding of Isaac?
The premise behind The Binding of Isaac is simple and sets the tone for the game's atmosphere: as Isaac, it is your job to kill your mother, as she attempted to kill you. Not only will you kill your mom, you will venture inside of her to destroy her heart, eventually ending up in either heaven or hell, killing your unborn sibling or the devil himself. As you can probably tell, The Binding of Isaac features some themes not suitable for a younger audience. In addition to matricide, the game peppers in a fair number of bodily function jokes to boot.

Gameplay in The Binding of Isaac is a cross between the original Legend of Zelda and a rougelike. You view Isaac in a top-down 2D graphical style, reminiscent of Zelda, as you explore rooms in a dungeon that again takes inspiration from the classic NES game. As you explore each dungeon, of which there are over four different themes, you will find weapons and items to increase your power.

There is a catch, however, as when you die you lose all of your items and must restart from scratch. Yes, you will die often, as The Binding of Isaac is a very difficult game. However, multiple playable characters each with their own special ability are available to unlock along with a plethora of weapons and items; you'll find yourself getting a little further in the game each time. Like most good roguelikes, The Binding of Isaac exudes that "just one more game" mindset from its players.

Layer in a copious number of secrets, and The Binding of Isaac is a game you can easily sink over 100 hours into and still not uncover everything there is to see in the game.

How Is The Binding Of Isaac Rebirth Different?
For starters, The Binding of Isaac Rebirth will no longer make use of Flash, with Nicalis creating an entirely new engine from scratch. This engine is to feature 16-bit graphics, akin to what you would see on a Super Nintendo, giving the game a graphical facelift while still retaining its graphical charm.

Rebirth will feature co-op gameplay, selectable loadouts at the beginning of the game and will feature over 110 new items for players to find and use. Of course, all the original playable characters, enemies, and bosses from the original game will be back with some new additions to each faction. However, what these additions will be is anyone's guess, but you can be assured they will be slightly disturbing in keeping with the game's theme.

McMillen and Nicalis are claiming the game includes 50% more content over the original, and the original was packed with content as it is so this is great news.

Free For PlayStation Plus Members
It was recently revealed at a Sony event that The Binding of Issac: Rebirth will be a free download to all PlayStation Plus members when it releases at the beginning of 2014. It will only remain free for a limited time, so make sure to download it as soon as it releases!

Release Date
The Binding of Issac: Rebirth now has a confirmed release date: November 4th, 2014 in the United States, and the first week of November in other countries as it will be a free PlayStation Plus game for the month of November.

For non-PlayStation Plus members, the game will cost $14.99 upon release.

Excited for Binding of Isaac? Let us know on Facebook and in the comments!